Suns' Grant Hill undergoes minor right knee surgery

Veteran forward will miss most of the rest of the season after suffering meniscus tear

by Paul Coro - Mar. 29, 2012 11:43 PMThe Republic | azcentral.com

UPDATED FRIDAY 12:06 P.M.: The Suns announced in a news release Friday morning that small forward Grant Hill underwent minor right knee surgery to repair a medial meniscus tear. He will likely miss at least most of the season's remaining games. The team says if rehab goes according to plan, he could return before the end of the regular season.

A magnetic resonance imaging test on Hill's right knee revealed Thursday that he has a meniscus tear to the right knee, which underwent an arthroscopy in September to remove a loose piece of cartilage.

Hill likely will be out until at least mid-April, if not the season, but more will be known after the surgery.

Hill, the league's second oldest player by a day at age 39, said Wednesday that his right knee first began bothering him two weeks ago when he took a hit to the inside of the joint, where the tear is located. On Sunday, Hill said it worsened when he took a charge against Cleveland and eventually left the game. He was hopeful to return but his lateral movement remained limited before Tuesday's and Wednesday's games and he was held out each time.

Hill, the Suns' starting small forward and defensive leader, has missed five games this season but two were only for rest in the middle of back-to-back-to-back sets. He had only missed three games in his previous three Suns seasons combined.

The Suns (25-26) are 1-4 this season without Hill, who was averaging 10.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 29.2 minutes per game while shooting 45.1 percent from the field. Hill struggled with his offense early in the season after going through knee rehabilitation as training camp started. Since the All-Star break, Hill was shooting 52.1 percent from the field and averaging 12.9 points.

More importantly, Hill keyed the Suns defense by defending the opponent's most important perimeter player, whether it was a point guard or a wing scorer.

"He's our glue guy," Suns guard Jared Dudley said after the Suns lost to the Clippers without him Wednesday night. "He calms us defensively. He's the best defensive player. He's the one who guarded Chris Paul at home and slowed him down. Offensively, he is efficient and gets out on the break and that makes other people guard him and open up 3-pointers. He posts up and makes the extra pass."

Guard Shannon Brown has started on the wing with Dudley in Hill's absences but the bench offense suffered without Brown. Hill's loss could return Josh Childress to the rotation. Childress is the bench's only true small forward, offering length with his 6-foot-8 frame. Childress has only appeared in 20 games this season, including only one of the Suns' past 20 games.

The Suns are in 10th place in the West, sitting two games behind Utah, Houston and Denver with 15 games remaining. The Suns are only a half-game ahead of Minnesota and one game in front of Portland.